HL Recommended Hardware Lists

[Capper]

A thread for discussing the HL Recommended Hardware Lists

Budget Recommendations
Mainstream Recommendations
Enthusiast Recommendations

[halutzparilla]

y the quad still at $309.99... man i wish its lower... darn retail...

[qazwsx]

Originally Posted by halutzparilla

y the quad still at $309.99... man i wish its lower... darn retail...

At least you dont have the UK prices. here the price is $334.97 (£164)
good recommendations though.

EDIT: Heres a sata version of that DVD drive. Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM

[robodude666]

Why is there a ~$115 C2D for a budget system? A X2 brisbane would work better as a budget CPU. Its far cheaper.

And why did the evga board win over the DQ6? Because of the ~$100 lower price?

[Capper]

Originally Posted by robodude666

Why is there a ~$115 C2D for a budget system? A X2 brisbane would work better as a budget CPU. Its far cheaper.

And why did the evga board win over the DQ6? Because of the ~$100 lower price?

Because its what we recommend....
the C2D processor wipe the floor with the X2s, and to be honest, if being cheaper was the only goal, we'd go with a Celeron or something similar....as always its a balance of budget in a particular range vs performance.
As to the eVGA board, it its cheaper but score better in memory and graphics performance than the P35 boards. and in my opinion is a better choice right now.

[robodude666]

Originally Posted by Capper

Because its what we recommend....
the C2D processor wipe the floor with the X2s, and to be honest, if being cheaper was the only goal, we'd go with a Celeron or something similar....

True I guess. You can get a X2 3600+ Brisbane for about the same as a celeron.

Interesting. Didn't know 680i beats the P35 in memory and graphics performance. I thought the DQ6 was top board in all categories. At least it is amongst other P35 boards.

[Yellowhello]

Ya, you'd think that a newer chipset would have better RAM performance, but alas............

Great recommendations!!

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by robodude666

Why is there a ~$115 C2D for a budget system? A X2 brisbane would work better as a budget CPU. Its far cheaper.

And why did the evga board win over the DQ6? Because of the ~$100 lower price?

Just wondering, and the quote is just one example, why do you always have something negative to say about everything????

[OCNoob]

I think the goal of the budget system was to total under $750 and the final build was a very modest system that weighed in at only $570. That system not only allows for a quad upgrade in the future, but also a dedicated graphics card if need be. Heck, the final price could fit a 8600GTS or x1950 Pro in there.

Sure, if the budget had been $400 or so an Athlon system would've probably been used. But the given budget allowed for the use of the (much) better Core 2 foundation. I think building an Athlon system with a $750 budget is a huge mistake, especially considering the difference between the cheapest Core 2 and the cheapest X2 is $50. That's relatively small considering how large the overall budget is.

[robodude666]

Yes, true. I agree that you can build a budget rig w/ c2d for 750$. I seen people build a full rig for $850 which includes a E4300 & x1950pro. I also consider a budget system around 700-800.

But, if you play games like oblivion, a graphics card would make more of a difference than the processor. If you are a hard core gamer, then a graphics card would most likely be more important to you than a cpu. Now, if your using the system for office work or every day work, a c2d would be better because it loads stuff faster.

Now, the budget list is $571. which doesn't include a video card. If you were to add a video card, x1950pro, it would jump to 720, which is just inside our "budget price" range.

I would consider my system a budget system because I got it all for about $750. Which doesn't include the case I won and the two hdds i got from a trade. Adding those would increase price by about $240.